TOYS. I've been in a steady relationship with "the hobby" for many years now. This blog is an attempt to rediscover MY hobby and provide motivation to paint MY toys and play MY games. The topics may wander to rugby, cricket and the x-box but feel free to skip those bit if you wish........ either of you :)

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Thursday, 31 July 2014

Last Wednesday night we got back to EotE with three of the group in attendance. Our rule of thumb is that we'll go one man down but one of our number has had to drop out for a while so we've lost Kardosh MIA. Sindori also required a longer soak in Bata juice than most.

As such it was Agenai, Perit and 7-UP-0 who faced a fairly scathing debrief with Sgt Chung as they assessed their planning effected their ultimate performance. A fair few frank one-way exchanges later there was no doubt as to their position with HI-HI........ Moving on they did get some credit for capturing a couple of "live" leads, and even some XP to spend, who were currently being "processed" for Intel.

Given that Kardosh was MIA the lads also got the loan of an Intel sliced DROID, cunningly disguised as a battered Rd, named R4-X2, who also provides a live feed back to HI-HI........

Recapping mission objectives it was decided that Kanto was still priority one along with Jared Tinson, the apparent Slicer brain behind Kanto's throne. Assessing the apparent leads the lads came up with the following options;
1. Head back to Ronsons (quickly vetoed by Chung)
2. Search Tinsons Tech for leads
3. Follow Kardosh's comms signal
4. Head back to the scrapyard and search Kanto's speeder again

Plumping for Option 2 the lads trundled off to Tinsons only to find it closed up. Going for the regular MO of a Perception check Agenai went big with a couple of Triumph to not only work out every minor crack in the storefront but also realise that the street vendor across the road might "know something"!

After a minor tiff with Perit, Agenai was originally going to take 7s with him until Perit informed him that HIS people were rather secular and unlikely to respond to silver-rod, the fleshy pair of the party approached the "meat on a stick" stall. There was a lovely display of crab juice ;)

Chucking up yet another Triumph Perit need not have worried as his fellow wanderer took to Agenai, digging him out a big stick with extra "sauce". He also informed them that the shop had been closed for almost a week and that the locals were worried for Jared especially after Oskar the tramp who lived in the alley had been found dead a few nights ago.

So helpful was the vendor that he even provided an introduction to the butcher keeping Oskar's body before Resyk collection which 7s was able to examine. Unfortunately it soon became clear that Agenai had stolen his die-fu as he spent all night rolling chod! As a result the top screen was somewhat indeterminate.

Further given the descriptions of the two local cantina patrons that had found Oskar the lads moved on. Strolling in Agenai made another Triumphant Perception check for anyone looking "shady". I cut it down to the two inebriated Samaritans and a particularly watchful Rodian at the back of the bar.

7s trundled up to the bar and started plying the good samaritans with the local brew to discover that they had almost literally tripped over Oskar one of them vaguely remembering some form of shadowy cloaked figure who may have been stood over him, a burst of darkness and the figure "flying off".....spooky!

Meanwhile Agenai managed to have a weird semi-coded conversation with the Rodian about needing to pick up a "package" from Tinsons with the Rodian telling Agenai that he definitely wasn't going to leave and meet him in the alley in ten minutes......

Ten minutes later Agenai edged into the alley with Perit covering him from a local vantage point and met the Rodian at the back of his running speeder........to discover that he's a gun dealer looking to move in on Tinson's recent closure.

So.....maybe nothing too much to write home about BUT a few leads picked up to develop further. More importantly the group as was on the night played to their strengths, using tech and soft skills to gather Intel, rather than finding a firefight they couldn't win (most of them!).

Monday, 28 July 2014

Just recently I've noticed the INFINITY starter set and I'm highly tempted.....

Wayland are doing 20% off pre-order by the end of the month to go along with the exclusive pre-order figure.

Operation Icestorm
The new, and long awaited, 2 player starter box set from Corvus Belli
is finally here. While Infinity has some great faction sets as jumping
in points, this new 2 starter set will be a great way to start playing
Infinity, add to your factions or start a new one. This box is bursting
with amazing miniatures as well as the new 3rd Edition rulebook and
everything else you need to play Infinity.

I've ummed and ahhd on Infinity for a while now. I love the figures the fluff and the feel.

Having watched the Beasts of War unboxing the scenery looks really good despite being fold up printed cardboard thought the "Game Mat" looks like a fold-out printed piece of paper rather than a Deadzone style mouse-mat that I was kind of hoping for.

The thinking is that it's a project in a box for a game and IP that ive been eyeing up since Salute 2013 with plenty of crossover scope for EotE / Sci-Fi roleplay and skirmish. If it grows as Infinity then great, if not then thats fine too.

As much as i could do with sitting down and planning my projects for tge rest of the year this feels like an absoloute steal that will provide a bit of variety with defined goals.....a scary idea for any lead mountain merchant ;)

I seem to be talking myself into it, if noone else, with remsrkable ease!!

Ive recently upgraded my phone, from I Phone 4S to Samsung S4 mini if you must know, and as i sat on the train downloading my various essential Apps, without which i would likely return to the Stone Age, i had an epithany type thought which coalesced into something of a resolution.

I moan to myself that I don't read anymore, something that's always been a highly enjoyable, whilst spending horrific amounts of my spare minutes, at work on the train and lazing in my pit, playing App games, Civilisation and Risk chief among them.

As such there will be no such downloaded distractions on the S4, though hopefully more posts with better quality photos. I'm going cold turkey and expect it to hurt like hell. This in itself will be an interesting side project outside of what i manage to achieve. Starting easy i have a big stack of 2000AD to catch up on and this months, impulse purchase of WI.

Tuesday, 22 July 2014

Thursday night we got back to Star Wars Edge of the Empire and thus there was much rejoicing :)

Moving on from last time out, with two of the lads captured and one MIA, the last two standing (just about) called in for the cavalry. And lo did two other operatives rocked up with a speeder full of stimm-packs and a hefty price tag. In practice Mr C and Rob ran a couple of souped up pre-gens, Twilek and Wookie Bounty Hunters respectively, while thier main men languished in captivity.

Stimmed to the max the lads counted up the grenade stash, two stun and one frag, and planned thier assault on Twistys around them. Basically Sin and Agenai were going full frontal to shoot in a window and chuck in the stuns while the Bounty Hunter Brotherhood (BHB) went through the back door on detonation.

A decent plan and the Stealth rolls to get into position weren't too bad. However this was when the bad lads and I started rolling Triumphs and the stealth bit went a bit out of the window.

The lads then rolled particularly poorly for Intiative having the first action but then nothing until the fifth!

For the record they were facing;

Boskk - Barabel Brawler (Rival)

Mange - Wookie Scout (Rival)

Rikks - Sullatan Slicer (Rival)

3 x Thug (Minion)

3 x Thug (Minion)

Somehow the bad lads started the shooting of any accuracy targeting Sin, but missing, only to blow out the front windows and shower him and Agenai with glass. Weathering the storm Agenai then hurled both Stun Grenades into Twistys......only to fail epically and discover they were BOTH duds. At this point Mr C's girly Twilek BH threw herself bodily at the LOCKED back door only to bounce off with a few Strain plus puzzled looks from the Walking Carpet variant. In a fir of pique Mr C blasted the lock into oblivion to his great annoyance when it didn't simply shoot open a la Death Star offerings. More puzzled look and a few "there, there" growls......

Back out the front Sin was attracting the majority of bad guy fire with a double Triumph to negate his dodge ability, as he clung to the floor, and put a Dazed Critical Hit on him. Agenai threw caution to the wind and went for the frag grenade only to fail badly again and re-model a portion of Twistys roof structure. the one up was that Sin was doing a good job at blasting Boskk holding to the of adage of "remove the head".Around the back Walking Carpet set about the back door with his chainaxe with encouragment in the form of expressive dance. this wasn't helping Sin too much who took another Triumph induced Critical Hit while Agenai also came in for some blaster-love.Sin did at least drop Boskk, who had moved back to use Perit as a Gand-Shield only for Mange, remember him?, to have a go with his new toy, Perit's sniper rifle and drop Sin unconscious in return.

Things were, once again, looking pretty grim as the lads put on the Hindsight 20-20 goggles and wondered why they'd bothered with the back door."It's pretty tough, though a Triumph would get through it in short order!" said I, never believing that Rob would produce the good. So thusly Lady Luck smiled her benevolence upon him and the door splintered!Rolling in the BHB had time to witness Mange complete the set by dropping Agenai as one Thug group attempted mouth to mouth on Boskk.......for a Triumph!! Walking Carpet went Wookie on Wookie with Mange while Mr C inspired Thug group 1 and Rikks to dive through the front window and beat a tactical treat.....across Sin and Agneai's recumbent forms :)Meanwhile Thug group 2 were dragging Boskk through the window while Walking Carpet was beating Mange to his knees. Some rapid fire from MrC saw Boskk dropped quicker than a Beiber quote about 1945 with Mange loosing the roaring contest to surrender.

So.....two of the lads unconscious, two coming round, one MIA for the capture of barely breathing Bossk and a partially shaved Mange. Thank the Force for the Bounty Hunter Brotherhood!!

In honesty this was a game of 8 Triumphs, 5 rolled by the GM. Her Ladyship has struck again!

Sunday, 20 July 2014

Heard that one on the radio yesterday and it's still rattling around :)

Brace yourself people, it's a post with newly painted figures!! Yes, I know it's been a while but I finally got a full afternoon in with the brush and finished off the armoured support for my Commandos.

I've enjoyed these and making the effort to do a bit of conversion work and add plenty of detail. I've chucked on a reasonable amount of "liberated" stowage and made the investment in a number of Warlord's decal sheets to mark them up as belonging to the 10th Black Bull Division. It's also been nice to work through the stages of paint, decal, shade, highlight and weather. It's been a while since I've put in this sort of effort, which WWII lends itself to so well.

So an AEC Armoured Car, two Bren Carriers and the Wasp. Working out the Painting Points I reckon an average of four a piece is fair for a total of 16.

While I was playing with the decals I put the shoulder patches on Ponsonby-Smyth and Spatchcock and re-shot them and Polyp as I've finally found the camera charger.

Tuesday, 15 July 2014

As previously mentioned I headed down to Tabletop Nation on Sunday to take part in their ST:AW Tholian Web event. Armed with my previous experience I took almost exactly the same fleet and trusted to that most fickle of mistresses; Luck!!

First off and most importantly I had three good games against three good opponents so results were less relevant to the enjoyment of my day.

First game was against pure Cardassians whose lack of manoeuvrability hurt them almost as badly as Barrage of Fire. Her Ladyship also smiled on me at every critical juncture. A whitewash followed and a place on the top table (an unusual event!)

Klingons on the starboard bow!

Second game was against Mr C's pure Romulan cloaked mine fleet which dominated the game from Turn 1 (the mines that is). Despite redeploying via Echo Shift I eventually had to turn into the mines to take on his big boys. Her Ladyship smiled again and I managed to do considerable damage before dieing a good death, several turns later than is predicted.

The Thoian Web closes!

Third game was against a pair of Borg spheres captained by the Borg Queen and Picard. They flew in such tight formation I thought they were holding hands! ;) Again I manoeuvred by Echo Shift but eventually had to turn in. Martok and his glass gun (Ch'Tang with Barrage)

died an inglorious death without firing and it was all downhill from there. I've worked out that you need to engage Borg at range but the scenario didn't allow.

Star-crossed Lovers??

All in all a good showing as the scenario and Her Ladyship favoured me initially only to grow weary of my efforts and cast me aside ;) I did however manage to take Most Sporting with maximum points which is an event win all of itself, with Tholian OP prize attached.

The other bonus was that playing without Resources meant getting back to the core game which was particularly refreshing :)

To round out the day myself and Rich got in a game of Bolt Action playing envelopment, Commandos defending Estonian SS. Playing Envelopment the game became all about transports as I ran out my Bren carriers for the first time. With the updated rules I can run a pair as effectively one transport. Once we'd worked out the finer points in got a seven strong D Section, Lt Ponsonby-Smyth and the Flame thrower :)

In short I deployed badly (again) allowing Rich too many holes to run his jackboots at. First turn saw my Action Dice out of the bag first which allowed the SS to make their Hanomag charge up the centre, much to my chagrin.

Thankfully Her Ladyship returned at this point as the mortar team once again scored a direct hit and brewed it up, much to my relief! This did have the result of effectively catapulting a squad of Panzer-Grens up the table who duly scampered through. After that steady application of a mobile D Section mopped up ably assisted by the AEC, with their first PzIII kill, and that mortar again.

As the vehicle thing is new to me I made some mistakes with manoeuvre but learnt hugely from them. A solid win, plenty learnt and damn good fun :)

Really must decorate the mortar team, or at least finish painting them! :)

Monday, 7 July 2014

A few of us from Enfield Gamers headed down to Marquee Models (MM) in Harlow for their first Star Trek: Attack Wing Organised Play (OP) event otherwise known as the Tholian Web.

MM had 8 players booked in but only 5 rocked up. Between myself, Mr C and Shado we had Klingon, Federation and two 4th Division Battleships. Between them the other two players deployed a Borg cube and two Borg spheres all tooled up with multi-factional upgrades and captains.
In short is was violent, dirty and...well short! Three rounds took a total of 2 hours and with a bye each round only two players got a full set of three games, excluding myself and Mr C.

With the least competitive fleet out there, amongst some fairly serious offerings, I got absolutely hosed against the Cube / Sphere fleet, sat one out and then was a single Hull Point away from taking Shado only for the dice to go against me. It was a good competitive game and well needed to save the day for me, figuratively as well as literally.

Fair enough MM are just getting their OP games of the ground and the local community should support that for it to flourish, you get out what you put in. Their are always going to be growing pains but that first game was awful and unfortunately it wasn't just the fleet that I was facing!! :/
There was a fair bit of post event chatter about balance, abusive lists and gamesmanship :(

However.....I find myself looking forward to the same event down at TTN next Sunday and really want to get a few games in with my Dominion. Happy Day!!

Thursday, 3 July 2014

Tuesday night was TOYs, as it's known in the office, down at my long, long-time gaming club, Enfield Gamers.

Personally I was up for a bit of Bolt Action action. Having somehow missed D-Day we recently played a mega-micro Caen game and to follow up I'd vaguely organised an Operation Goodwood night as that Op finished on 1st July 1944. Turning up with rulebook, scenarios selected, order dice and dinner I realised that I'd managed to leave my army in the office which cued much cursing and mirth depending on who you were!

As fate would have it that actually evened up the Bolt player numbers so I set the night up with the Axis players counterattacking the Allies. Meanwhile a couple of the guys set an Epic game of X-Wing and a further game of 40k. This left me as a third for Cards Against Humanity, a hugely non PC cardgame.

As such I now bring you a thumbnail night down at Enfield Gamers as a compare & contrast to your local.

- We're a fairly small club with an average turnout of about a dozen at our typical church hall. We can set up ten 6x4s if you breathe in and have about three cupboards worth of various terrain squeezed in and around a pair of lockers.

- Tea and Coffee is on tap with choco rations at a price and plenty of local take-aways and hostelries for dinner on the run.

- Were an older club, averaging mid 30s, with most systems having got table-time over the years. GW has given way to more diverse offerings as the years have rolled by and it's fair to say that we're skirmish rather than mega-battle. Board and card games provide pick-up and extra time gaming under the heading of "fun games".
- We're pretty open minded to what we play week to week. We've recently settled on a couple of regular monthly campaigns, currently Bolt Action and Zombiecide, with specific open gaming nights and even a touch of Roleplay on occasion.

So, how do we compare? Feel free to come and tell us in person as your first night with us is FREE :)